Summary

Dr. Kirsty Graham from the University of St. Andrews discusses how bonobos use gestures to communicate, which winds into a chat about what that means for ape communication generally — especially humans. They also have some insights into field research.

Check out the article about humans understanding nonhuman ape gestures here: https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3001939 

Listener discretion advised: Bonobo behavior is discussed in this episode, which includes sexual habits.

Recommendations

• Dr. Graham’s ResearchGate profile
• Graham KE, Hobaiter C. Towards a great ape dictionary: Inexperienced humans understand common nonhuman ape gestures. PLoS Biol. 2023 Jan 24;21(1):e3001939.
• Wickelgren I. (2023). Humans Can Correctly Guess the Meaning of Chimp Gestures. Sci Am.
• Eleuteri, Vesta & Henderson, Matthew & Soldati, Adrian & Badihi, Gal & Zuberbühler, Klaus & Hobaiter, Catherine. (2022). The form and function of chimpanzee buttress drumming. Animal Behaviour. 192. 10.1016/j.anbehav.2022.07.013.
• Soldati, Adrian & Fedurek, Pawel & Dezecache, Guillaume & Call, Josep & Zuberbühler, Klaus. (2022). Audience sensitivity in chimpanzee display pant hoots. Animal Behaviour. 190. 23-40. 10.1016/j.anbehav.2022.05.010.
• Haraway D. (1990). Primate Visions: Gender, Race, and Nature in the World of Modern Science. Routledge.
• Rutherford A. (2020). The Book of Humans: A Brief History of Culture, Sex, War, and the Evolution of Us. Experiment.
• Weir A. (2022). Project Hail Mary. Ballantine Books.
• Chambers B. (2016). The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet. Harper Voyager.